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The paper provides a speculative reflection on the power of modern science, technology and innovation systems (STI) for revealing some distinctive style of modernity in Africa. The modernization of these systems, as the backbones of any mode of modernity, also requires the modernization of our mental or intellectual costumes. This process is essentially the passage from closed, selfconfirming, faith‐based, customary, totalizing or terrorizing knowledge systems to essentially falsifiable, evidence‐based, scientifically‐established and technicallyproven innovative knowledge systems. In these systems scientific knowledge can be construed as a theory of the real and as a technology of truth and understood as the epistemological foundation of any form of Afro‐modernity. It is also the passage from the ‘Book of Scripture’ to the ‘Book of Nature’ or from the submission to the white man’s colonizing gods to the more authentic and genuine African identities, beliefs and values, such as those embodied in the concept of ubuntu. The paper discusses a possible way forward in terms of capacity development in STI in Africa with an emphasis on some observed weaknesses regarding fundamental long term neglected issues. It provides some ideas for filling gaps in the context of the call by a number of African thinkers, including the Executive Secretary of UNECA, for initiating a ‘scientific revolution’ on the African continent.

In its passage through the Grand Committee the Food Bill is being amended in a number of important particulars, and it is in the highest degree satisfactory that so much interest has been taken in the measure by members on both sides of the House as to lead to full and free discussion. Sir Charles Cameron, Mr. Kearley, Mr. Strachey, and other members have rendered excellent service by the introduction of various amendments; and Sir Charles Cameron is especially to be congratulated upon the success which has attended his efforts to induce the Committee to accept a number of alterations the wisdom of which cannot be doubted. The provision whereby local authorities will be compelled to appoint Public Analysts, and compelled to put the Acts in force in a proper manner, and the requirement that analysts shall furnish proofs of competence of a satisfactory character to the Local Government Board, will, it cannot be doubted, be productive of good results. The fact that the Local Government Board is to be given joint authority with the Board of Agriculture in insuring that the Acts are enforced is also an amendment of considerable importance, while other amendments upon what may perhaps be regarded as secondary points unquestionably trend in the right direction. It is, however, a matter for regret that the Government have not seen their way to introduce a decisive provision with regard to the use of preservatives, or to accept an effective amendment on this point. Under existing circumstances it should be plain that the right course to follow in regard to preservatives is to insist on full and adequate disclosure of their presence and of the amounts in which they are present. It is also a matter for regret that the Government have declined to give effect to the recommendation of the Food Products Committee as to the formation of an independent and representative Court of Reference. It is true that the Board of Agriculture are to make regulations in reference to standards, after consultation with experts or such inquiry as they think fit, and that such inquiries as the Board may make will be in the nature of consultations of some kind with a committee to be appointed by the Board. There is little doubt, however, that such a committee would probably be controlled by the Somerset House Department; and as we have already pointed out, however conscientious the personnel of this Department may be—and its conscientiousness cannot be doubted—it is not desirable in the public interest that any single purely analytical institution should exercise a controlling influence in the administration of the Acts. What is required is a Court of Reference which shall be so constituted as to command the confidence of the traders who are affected by the law as well as of all those who are concerned in its application. Further comment upon the proposed legislation must be reserved until the amended Bill is laid before the House.

Knowledge transfer considers the company as a dynamic system dealing with different kinds of knowledge. As production becomes more knowledge-based, this increases the potential for capturing and taking advantage of knowledge. On the other side, these factors become more complex and difficulties increase for the effective transfer of knowledge across organizational boundaries.

Research on knowledge transfer has experienced substantial growth in the past 30 years and research on knowledge transfer is still increasing (Kumar & Ganesh, 2009). The literature argues quite unanimously that there is a positive link between knowledge sharing and competitive advantage. This is analyzed in several studies, but according to Dyer and Hatch (2006), this assumption has not been generally proven. In this chapter, we discuss the points of view from different contributions on this subject. In the empirical part of this chapter, we propose the idea that knowledge transfer is a way for organizations to be more competitive and implement changes essential to their survival. This is done by looking at five firms in the meat producing industry in different countries.

Independent travelers are those vacationers who have booked only a minimum of their transportation and accommodation arrangements prior to departure on the vacation. Independent travel is an important and growing sector of worldwide tourism. Choice of vacation itinerary for the independent vacation represents a complex series of decisions regarding purchase of multiple leisure and tourism services. This chapter builds and tests a model of independent traveler decision-making for choice of vacation itinerary. The research undertaken employs a two-phase, inductive–deductive case study design. In the deductive phase, the researcher interviewed 20 travel parties vacationing in New Zealand for the first time. The researcher interviewed respondents at both the beginning and the end of their New Zealand vacations. The study compares pre-vacation research and plans, and actual vacation behaviors, on a case-by-case basis. The study examines case study narratives and quantitative measures of crucial variables. The study tests two competing models of independent traveler decision-making, using a pattern-matching procedure. This embedded research design results in high multi-source, multi-method validity for the supported model. The model of the Independent Vacation as Evolving Itinerary suggests that much of the vacation itinerary experienced in independent travel is indeed unplanned, and that a desire to experience the unplanned is a key hedonic motive for independent travel. Rather than following a fixed itinerary, the itinerary of an independent vacation evolves as the vacation proceeds. The independent traveler takes advantage of serendipitous opportunities to experience a number of locations, attractions and activities that they had neither actively researched nor planned.

Most companies struggle to meet the dual goals of sustaining competitive advantage and ensuring high resilience during crises. Those that do, research tells, adapt their operational practices along the crisis cycle, combining an effective cost approach at the start of a crisis, while quickly relaunching their investment to grow ahead of competition, just when they learn that the crisis is peaking, and not too late, when the crisis is over. This cycle alignment is possibly the crucial, but not the only, factor for success. We update early research to show that companies succeeding in this dual objective also take a proactive strategy approach of capturing the complementarities between both performance and resilience during a period of high turbulence. This complementarity relies on exploiting dynamic capabilities common to both resilience and performance, and on leveraging the resilience process as a foundation for strategic renewal going forward.

The research relies on case studies, complemented by an original survey sample, collected just after the peak of the covid-19 pandemic, of 4,000 multinational firms spread across 18 industries termed NACE2, a statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community. This study included 10 countries outside the European Community. The sample collects information on five core enterprise capabilities (agility, innovativeness, active ecosystem play and digital/sustainability maturity, flexible work practices) and uses a variety of quantitative techniques to assess that existence and size of synergies captured by firms.

Companies meeting the dual goal of resilience and performance are more than doubling their rate of profit growth relatively to peers, after the peak of the crisis, by leveraging of synergies between performance and resilience.

The topic is essential for management, given the elevated turbulence. This research confirms that resilience and performance are synergistic and helps make companies using each crisis boost performance forward.

The current obsession with globalization and technological change has given rise to a new school of management, the revolutionary school. This school uses language appropriated from the political concept of revolution and argues that the key role of management is the transformation of their organizations. The article considers the extent to which the European business environment has been transformed and the extent to which transformation is possible under difficult market conditions such as those faced by the European car industry. The article concludes that under the structural conditions of saturation and slow or cyclical growth, organizational transformation is unlikely to be successful.